MH17: Australia pauses for a national day of mourning

Flags are flying at half mast around the country as an official memorial is held in Melbourne for the victims of flight MH17, attended by grieving families, the public, and dignitaries including the prime minister, the governor general, and the opposition leader

Updated

Australians arrive to mourn the loss of all victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on August 7, 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. Photograph: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

Katie Noonan is now singing I Am Australian. Below are some pictures of mourners arriving at the cathedral earlier.

Mourners embrace as they arrive to attend a national memorial service as Australians mourn the loss of all victims of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on August 7, 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. Photograph: Scott Barbour/Getty ImagesMourners arrive to attend a a national memorial service as Australians mourn the loss of all victims of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on August 7, 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. Photograph: Scott Barbour/Getty ImagesFamily and friends are escorted through a side door at a service at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne to remember those killed in the MH17 disaster. Thursday, Aug 7, 2014. Photograph: DAVID CROSLING/AAPIMAGETony Abbott, prime minister of Australia arrives to attend a a national memorial service as Australians mourn the loss of all victims of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on August 7, 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. Photograph: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

Tony Abbott says “it is an honour to be here” with the religious and civic leaders of the country. He has delivered a tearful eulogy to the victims and paid tribute to their families and Australians who have supported them.

He described the morning families woke up to discover their loved ones had been “murdered,” the loss “made worse by the wanton cruelty” of the shooting.

“There will be a time to judge the guilty but today we honour the dead and grieve with the living,” he said.

“Today the Australian nation expresses its gratitude for the lives so cruelly cut short and we express our solidarity with those who loved them. The dead of flight MH17 reflect what’s best in modern Australia. Doctors who worked with refugees. Teachers who worked with indigenous people and children with disabilities, volunteers in our armed forces and charities, business leaders and pillars of community, young people filled with passion for the life before them.

“When those we love are snatched away, nothing can ease the pain. Somehow we who have not been bereaved must reach out to those who have and show by our love that love has not abandoned them. You have not been abandoned and you never will be.”

“I salute all those who have rallied to their fellow Australians and all the other victims of MH17,” Abbott said.

“Mostly I pay tribute to those who have lost loved ones. Some of you I have spoken with. Your decency, resilience and compassion have been both humbling and uplifting. One of you even asked me how I was bearing up because in the depths of your own pain you were still thinking of others.”

“We mourn all on MH17. Innocent, unoffending and precious. These victims of a most terrible, violent and unimaginable evil. We mourn 38 of our own who laughed and learned and loved between the Southern Cross that now flies at half mast.”

He said he hoped those grieving could draw support from Australia’s affirmation, sympathy and “from the knowledge that you do not walk alone today. You loved wonderful people.”

“For those of us who pray, pray for the departed, pray for the bereaved and pray for a country that bears an indelible scar on its soul.”

Abby Dobson and Katie Noonan are now performing Even When I’m Sleeping.

After a hymn, governor general Sir Peter Cosgrove has addressed the crowd.

He has spoken of supporting the victims’ families through “unrelenting grief”.

He spoke of standing on the Eindhoven tarmac in the Netherlands with his wife at the first of many repatriation ceremonies.

“Our thoughts were consumed by lives cut short, those left behind, and the intolerable heartbreak caused by this tragedy. So often words do not and cannot express our true feelings and thoughts during such a time of great loss. Yet, at such a time even the most deeply bereaved can demonstrate extraordinary fortitude.

“One of the families grieving, the Masden family, has expressed so powerfully some of how they feel – that in spite of the enormity of their loss, the depth of their despair, their love exceeds and surmounts all the hatred in the world.

“This we can all understand, for there is nothing stronger or more powerful than the love we have for our children, out partner, our parents, our family, our friends.”

He also thanked the people of the Netherlands.

“You have embraced every person who died as your own. For this we owe you a debt of gratitude,” he said, citing the repatriation ceremonies and “the thousands of Dutch people who lined the route from Eindhoven as repatriation vehicles passed.”

“We thank you for your kindness, your great care and your humanity as you, too, deal with your own great loss.”

The service will start shortly, at 10.30am AEST. The cathedral’s seats are full.

Melissa Davey reports:

Both Bill Shorten and Tony Abbott will speak at the service, along with Sir Peter Cosgrove. Katie Noonan will perform two pieces – Even When I’m Sleeping and I am Australian. The Malaysian high commissioner Zainal Abidin Ahmad and ambassador for the Netherlands Annemieke Ruigrok will both deliver readings.

Paul Guard, the son of two of the victims, Jill and Roger Guard, spoke to the ABC outside the church earlier this morning.

“I really hoped when this happened that there would at least be a catalyst for a ceasefire,” Guard said.

“Unfortunately, it’s gone the other way,” he added. He said he did not think enough pressure was being put on the parties to “take a step back”. He called for Australian leaders to do whatever they could to end the conflict.

The fighting has intensified in the past week, forcing a halt to the humanitarian effort to investigate the crash site and search for victims’ remains.

Australia’s national day of mourning for the victims of flight MH17, shot down over Ukraine on 17 July, will be marked by memorial services in Australian states. We will be bringing you live updates of the official memorial service at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne, which will be attended by grieving families, members of the public, and dignitaries including the prime minister, Tony Abbott, the governor general, Sir Peter Cosgrove, and the opposition leader, Bill Shorten.

The Guardian’s Melissa Davey is in Melbourne. She reports families of the victims have begun to arrive.